"Come on, let's sneak out of camp." Robinkit hissed softly to Dewkit. The kits were sitting in the now dark and empty camp. The full moon floated gently above their heads. Every time Robinkit drew in air she was met with the familiar sweet scent of her absent mother.
Dewkit nodded, looking troubled "I can't stand worrying about her! Oh, Robinkit we have to make sure she's okay" she cried.
"I know, me too, but" Robinkit gave her sister a hard stare "Are you willing to risk punishment"
"Of course" and by Dewkit's expression she knew she meant it.
"Good then follow me" Robinkit lead the tan she kit to behind the elder's den. As they approached Robinkit listened carefully. When she heard muffled snored, she nodded to her sister and the two crawled into the tight space at the back of the den.
Robinkit put her paw on the cliff that seperated the camp from the forest. The easier way was to go out the thorn barrier tunnel. But it was currently being heavily guarded tonight. So they would have to climb the wall and risk falling and killing themselves. But this was Cloudheart, so Robinkit unsheathed her claws into the rock and launched herself up.
Paw by paw, Robinkit managed to haul herself up. Robinkit thanked Dark Forest for her huge muscles and prayed for them to give her sister strength. Dewkit was lagging behind. Her small body wasn't able to climb the cliff. Robinkit finally reached the top. With all of her energy she lifted herself over the cliff, spraying gravel down the side.
"Hey!" Dewkit squealed as the dirt hit her face.
"Sorry" Robinkit apologized. Robinkit peered over the edge and gently sunk her teeth into Dewkit scruff. Robinkit dug her claws into the ground to secure her stance. She than lifted her head, pulling Dewkit up. Once she was on the same ground as Robinkit, Dewkit collapsed on the floor gasping for air.
Robinkit leaned down and licked the sweat and dirt off her face, then let her have a break. Robinkit looked back over the ledge. She gasped at the sight of the once huge camp was now the size of ant. Robinkit put her paw over the camp. It looked like she could squish the camp.
"Sorry about that Robinkit" huffed an exhausted Dewkit as she scrambled to her paws.
"Its alright, come on the holy grounds isn't far from camp". I'm the very middle of the grounds held the gathering and the arena.
The forest was a scary big place to the kits, but luckily it was very similar to the camp. Soft and squishy dirt with towering pines. Nothing new to the Duskclan kits. In a big circle, Robinkit lead Dewkit to the front of the camp. The place was steaming with the scent of the cats that left to go to the gathering.
"I need your sharp nose, Dewkit. Can you track down the scent" Robinkit asked her sister.
"Yeah, they seemed to go that way" Dewkit pointed with her muzzle.
" Alright lead the way" Dewkit nodded then raced off in the direction of the smell.
The kits ran in the forest, attempting to find their mother and the cats. As they ran, Robinkit began to notice that the trees began to dwindle out. Each tree sprouted out further and further from each other.
Wait that means. The kits emerged from the forest and was met with the dark rushing river.
"The DarkRiver, that means we're really close" Robinkit announced but her sister wasn't listening. Dewkit had her fur bristled as she slowly inched towards the river.
"Do you suppose there's bodies down there?" Dewkit asked.
Robinkit padded up to the river joining her sister. It was exactly how the elders described it. It was so dark that Robinkit could barely tell it was water.
"No, the river would have swept them away by now. Come on I can see the holy grounds from here" In the dim moonlight, Robinkit could make out the shape of an island further up the river.
The two sisters ran along the river until they were face to face with the Holy Ground. Their final challenge was to get to the island. Through the darkness, Robinkit could see three stepping-stones leading up tot the island . Dewkit stared at the stones in horror and Robinkit could guess what she was thinking. One slip equals death.
"We'll have to jump to get there" Robinkit said. Dewkit just nodded either too occupied or too scared to give a verbal response.
" Come on, if we can scale the camp wall we can jump on a few stones" and with those brave words Robinkit launched herself in the air landing on the first stone. The water that rushed by sprayed her with chilly liquid. Robinkit let out a squeak of surprise, she wasn't expecting it to be so cold.
"Are you okay?" Asked Dewkit worriedly.
"Yeah" Robinkit tolher thanking Dark Forest for the warm new leaf night. She then once again jumped into the air and landed safely. Behind her, she heard soft paws compacting with a rough surface, telling her that her sister made it safely.
One by one they were able to jump to the shore of the holy ground. Once on, Robinkit's nose was attacked by the scent of many cats.
"We should travel by tree, so we don't get caught" Dewkit advised.
Robinkit nodded then scrambled up the nearest tree. She then hoped to the next tree branch and waited for her sister to caught up. Tree branch by tree branch, the two made their way to the center of the island, Robinkit was shocked at the amount of birds in the trees despite the fact that there were so many cats around. Robinkit was even able to land on the same branch as two black birds sharing a worm. They gave no reaction to her presence and continued their meal. No wonder the clans fought so hard for this place.
"Pineclan is doing fine now that new leaf is upon us" called an unfamiliar voice.
Robinkit and Dewkit exchange a glance then peered through the tree. Robinkit was meet with the site hundreds of cats sitting in a wide clearing. Each and everyone of them was looking at a big rock with four cats sitting on it. Presumably those cats were the four great leaders. Robinkit let her gaze wonder to the back of the clearing where the arena was. The arena was a huge rock that jutted up from the ground. In each corner stood five cats, five from each clan.
Slowly, Robinkit jumped through the branches until she was on a brach directly above the arena. Dewkit joined her and the two kits tried to spy on the older cats.
Robinkit spotted her mother surrounded by four muscular toms. Robinkit recognized the four Duskclan warriors: Stormcloud, Sparrowfur, Barkclaw, and Oakwhisker.
Stormcloud leaned down to talk to Cloudheart "Don't worry , sweetheart, just stay in this corner and let us do the fighting". Robinkit could see her mother shaking in fear.
Sparrowfur moved closer to her and put his tail on her shoulder "We were going to surrender any way, we don't need the grounds since new leaf has treated us well. Bonestar says it would be better to run away with a fewscratchers then lose our fur over something we don't need".
Robinkit let out a huff of relief. There wasn't anything to worry about after all.
"Come on let's go home before we get caught" Robinkit whispered to her sister.
"No I want to make sure Cloudheart okay" Dewkit replied stubbornly.
Robinkit open her mouth to argue but was cut off by a high-pitched yowl. Turning her attention back to the arena she saw one huge cat lung at a speckled tom. The speckled tom raked his claw into his attacker's eyes and watched in glee as he sprawled on the ground screeching in pain. Robinkit looked on horrifed, she never seen cats be so violent with on another. Apperantly she wasn't the only one, as the cats in the clearing watched in horror as the bloody battle continued.
"Stop" she heard a she cat cry "You aren't suppose to kill one another!" but her plea didn't help as the battle continued.
"Duskclan surrenders" called Stormcloud but was cut off by a black tom who sank his claw into his throat. Stormcloud let out a shriek then fell to the ground.
"Stop this now, you're breaking Dark Forest tradition" called one of the leaders on the high rock.
Robinkit looked up at the sky hoping that Dark Forest would send a sign to stop the battle, but the full moon shined brighter than ever. Robinkit looked back at her mother, who was hissing at a white tom. The tom jumped onto Cloudheart and pinned her down.
"What are you doing, I surrendered" Cloudheart cried.
"Sorry" he hissed "but Snowclan needs the Holy Grounds" he then sunk his teeth into her throat.
"Stop" Robinkit screamed then jumped off the tree and landed in the arena. She heard several gasps as she approached her mother. the white tom got off her and returned to the fray ignoring Robinkit. Robinkit rubbed up against her mother but then realized it was too late. The battle behind her stopped abruptly and every cat in the clearing stared in horror at the many dead cats on the rock. Everyone remained in a stunned, horrorified silence expect Bonestar who cried out:
"Oh Robinkit, I'm so sorry"
